Old Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, and Kvist.

Lunar Aurora is probably the only band (or at least that I know of..) that has a very similar atmosphere to the early works of Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, and even the classic Kvist album (imo). I should probably include that three-song Ancient e.p. (the one with the troll on it) in this category for it is also a fine example of that, you know..."excessively dramatic and Romantic black metal style".

So, do you guys know where I'm getting at? If ya do, then I'm looking for any other bands that have this potential. And if you could name some, would be cool.

Gehenna's first two are probably better than all of them, except early Emperor and Avzhia's "The Key of Throne". Sammath's first album is okay. Can't say I've found (or looked) for anything similar of any quality unless you want to throw Summoning in there.

edit: not sure why Lord.Spam mentioned later Graveland. Otherwise fine recommendations. But I always considered the Celtic Winter and Thousand Swords albums to be improvements of the early EP's of Emperor and Enslaved.

I would very much advise you to skip Kataxu's Hunger of Elements. I thought it was a few notches below the usual thirteen a dozen bad darkclones. The other Kataxu album, Roots Thunder, is sort of ok though. I'd also skip the Abigor. Setherial's Nord and both mentioned Nokturnal Mortum very much fit the description, and none of them are bad, but they aren't all that exciting either.Another album that's about equal in quality ito these s Covenant's In Times Before the Light, and maybe Troll's Drep De Kristne

The only thing I'd actually feel comfortable recommending, as opposed to just pointing something out in a similar style, is Swastyka's Prophecies of Aryan Moon, which I feel is criminally underrated. It's a short 15 minute demo of beautiful ITNE-ish material with a bad Hvis Lyset Tar Oss cover tacked on.

I would very much advise you to skip Kataxu's Hunger of Elements. I thought it was a few notches below the usual thirteen a dozen bad darkclones. The other Kataxu album, Roots Thunder, is sort of ok though. I'd also skip the Abigor.

Disagree with you here. Hunger of Elements makes structural sense, and is executed with passion and conviction that surpasses a good deal of contemporary black metal (although falls quite far from the quality of Averse Sefira, ect.) It is by all means a high C grade album, but of course not "necessary". It's composition relies allot on surface/asthetic elements and "hooks", however it wins out because of it's spirit. Fans of the style will be pleased.

edit: not sure why Lord.Spam mentioned later Graveland. Otherwise fine recommendations. But I always considered the Celtic Winter and Thousand Swords albums to be improvements of the early EP's of Emperor and Enslaved.

Because early Graveland is far more representative of dark, cold forests, dead autumn leaves, and archaic pagan majick, where later Graveland is fucking imperial thunder god worship, and has that sword and spear type atmosphere that brings to mind ITNSE and the "melodramatic" style the OP was looking for IMO.

I would very much advise you to skip Kataxu's Hunger of Elements. I thought it was a few notches below the usual thirteen a dozen bad darkclones. The other Kataxu album, Roots Thunder, is sort of ok though. I'd also skip the Abigor.

Disagree with you here. Hunger of Elements makes structural sense, and is executed with passion and conviction that surpasses a good deal of contemporary black metal (although falls quite far from the quality of Averse Sefira, ect.) It is by all means a high C grade album, but of course not "necessary". It's composition relies allot on surface/asthetic elements and "hooks", however it wins out because of it's spirit. Fans of the style will be pleased.

Hunger of Elements isn't an outright failure but it's nothing compared to Roots Thunder, too much emphasis on song stucture and heavy metal technique as oppose to the free flowing chaotic black metal theatrics. Auzhia is a more structurally coherent version of that same style, only it lacks the same nordic euro-soul.

I would very much advise you to skip Kataxu's Hunger of Elements. I thought it was a few notches below the usual thirteen a dozen bad darkclones. The other Kataxu album, Roots Thunder, is sort of ok though. I'd also skip the Abigor.

Disagree with you here. Hunger of Elements makes structural sense, and is executed with passion and conviction that surpasses a good deal of contemporary black metal (although falls quite far from the quality of Averse Sefira, ect.) It is by all means a high C grade album, but of course not "necessary". It's composition relies allot on surface/asthetic elements and "hooks", however it wins out because of it's spirit. Fans of the style will be pleased.

I'd argue about what makes it so awful, but to be honest, I've already forgotten and I don't feel like looking it up again when I could listen to better music instead, so I'll have to take your word for it.

Already mentioned several times, and rightfully so, but Avzhia's The Key of Throne is the purest (and best) statement of this style. Not to put it above In the Nightside Eclipse (although personally I listen to it more often), but the latter has other elements as well that also make it great. The Avzhia album is *only* "excessively dramatic and romantic."

For Graveland, I would put Following the Voice of Blood and Memory and Destiny closest to the style you're asking for, although neither is his best work - close to it, though.

Behemoth's ...From the Pagan Vastlands demo fits in the niche as well. So does And the Forests Dream Eternally, although the cheese starts to outweigh the good - not terribly so, but enough to make it somewhat less good than the former.

Aeternus' Beyond the Wandering Moon is good. Goes on too long for its own good, and is amateurish in parts, but sincere enough that you don't mind. After that they got steadily worse.

Setherial's Nord... is good, but it only really has two standout tracks, the rest being merely OK.

Blazemth was a nice surprise for me, despite being some of the cheapest-sounding music I've heard.

Summoning fits the bill somewhat. Their music tends to be more harmonically- than melodically-focused, which makes it more ambient than dramatic at (many) times. I'd say Stronghold comes closest to capturing this style, but it's far from their best.

Blut Aus Nord's Ultima Thulee has a lot of this style in it as well, and is good. Everything else of theirs is best left avoided, though; the second album maintains the debut's style but loses its substance, and after that they just gave up and tacked on industrialist experimentation.

I wouldn't include the mentioned Abigor albums - they're all very good, but more in the vein of Mozart than Beethoven, whereas you're asking for Romantic stuff(additionally, I found the Lux Devicta Est demo to be their best work). Same goes for Sammath.